Are doctors responsible for all bad outcomes?
Doctors and nurses do not guarantee their work, and virtually all medical procedures have known complications that can occur even with the best of care. You cannot prove a doctor was negligent just by the mere fact that a bad outcome occurred if that outcome is a known and accepted complications. At the same time, if a doctor is negligent, and his negligence increases the risk of a bad outcome, his conduct is not excused just because the outcome is a known complication, even if the patient had signed a piece of paper prior to surgery acknowledging that he was advised of the risk of that complication. For example, every surgical procedure carries a risk of infection, and before surgery the patient will sign an Informed Consent to say he has been told of that risk. Nevertheless, a surgeon may still be held liable for negligence if she does not wash her hands and her patient gets infected. In medical malpractice litigation, the issue of whether an outcome is an accepted complication or an
